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Los Altos Chic

The ability to create and furnish a home from the ground up is a dream for most designers, and for Sindhu Peruri of Miller Design Company in Woodside, the fantasy became a reality when she and her husband bought a narrow lot holding a dilapidated old house in Los Altos. The house came down, and in its place Peruri created a home tailored to the needs of her family and influenced on a global scale by everything from traditional Indian cooking to midcentury modern style.

Mary Jo Bowling

Photo credit: Courtesy Miller Design Company

Designed with Diwali in Mind

"We wanted the living room to feel more expansive, so we opened it to the lot outside with a folding glass door," says Peruri, a principal at Miller Design Company. "When the door is open, there's a 28-foot-long portal at one end of the room." The tradition of Diwali, a five-day festival in the Indian culture, also drove the indoor-outdoor design. "Diwali takes place in October or November, and we always have a party," says Peruri. "The weather is nice at that time of year, so we wanted people to be able to move between the living room and the patio easily." Being of Indian origin, Peruri wanted to include the colors and patterns of her heritage, but in a modern and fresh way. The bright pops of color in the neutral scheme are reminiscent of saris. "But not in the usual way," she says. "We don't have paisley prints all around."

Photo credit: Courtesy Miller Design Company

Dining Room without Borders

Peruri chose to have a dining room in a open space at one end of the living room rather than enclose it. This makes entertaining less formal, and that fits the family's style perfectly. The art is a series of framed panels of wallpaper. "I thought they were interesting, and it allowed me to invest in artwork for other parts of the house," she says.

Photo credit: Courtesy Miller Design Company

Wall Collage

In the family room, Peruri grouped some of her favorite black-and-white prints and paintings over the sofa for a collage effect. The fireplace surround is MDF painted to look like walnut paneling. "I wanted the walls, floors and cabinets to read as one, to almost disappear," she says. "That allows the rest of the room, and the view outside, to shine." The Lucite console at the end of the sofa serves as a homework station for the kids and mini office for adults.

Photo credit: Courtesy Miller Design Company

A Seat in the Kitchen

Peruri wanted to have a breakfast nook in the kitchen, but didn't have room to tuck it to the side of the room, where most of these spaces are located. The answer was to place a table at one end of the kitchen island. "I like the symmetry of it," she says. "And I like how we use it all the time. We eat together daily."